To Those Who Lost and Those Who Kept
by ark the wanderer
Summary: A shrine dedicated to those who died under Voldemort's reign was built at Hogwarts. Harry stands in front of it, first with Cho and later with Ginny, contemplating about those they've lost and how they move on from it.


The black marble shrine stood to one side of the Hogwarts grounds, overlooking the wide lake. Patronus-like images of those who had died in the hands of Voldemort and his Death Eaters float over the cylindrical stone, their names written along the sides.

Harry approached the black shrine slowly, the floating images narrowing down to people he'd known personally - Fred, Colin, Lupin and Tonks, Dumbledore, Snape, his parents - as he stood in front of it. The images slowly alternated between his dead loved ones until it stopped at his parents.

It had been more than a month since the battle, and Kingsley and McGonagall had organized a service that would honor all of those who had died because of Voldemort. The service had finished a few minutes ago. Ginny was still with Dennis and his parents, who, along with other Muggle parents, were somehow given access to the Hogwarts grounds and the castle's ground floor just for that day. The images shown alternately over the stone marble stopped at Colin's.

Harry looked out across the grounds and watched a few people laying flowers on Dumbledore's tomb. Briefly, the floating image became Dumbledore's until, inevitably, it turned to Snape. They had recognized Snape's real part in the war today, and Harry was glad for it. No matter how cruel Snape had been to him at school, Harry felt nothing but pity and respect for the man who had given everything for a love that would never be.

The image floating over the stone marble did not stop at Snape, however. Slowly, the former headmaster was replaced by that of a student who had died years before the battle: Cedric Diggory.

Harry turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and saw the reason for the change. Cho Chang was walking towards him.

"Hi Harry," she greeted as she stopped in front of the shrine.

"Cho," he replied, nodding his head a little.

Cho gazed up at the image of her dead boyfriend with an unreadable expression on her face. Harry looked at her for a moment before joining her in staring at the image of Cedric Diggory. They did not speak for a few minutes.

"I still miss him," Cho said eventually.

Harry did not know what to say to that. He tried to put himself in her shoes but immediately shied away from the thought. He could not imagine it. If Cho had loved Cedric half as much as he, Harry, loved Ginny, then what she was feeling was unfathomable.

"He was one of the most-" Harry paused at that, unable to come up with a word that would best describe Cedric. Honorable? Wise? Brave? Determined? Cedric was all those things. "He was one of the greatest people I've ever known."

Cho smiled a little at that. Harry had never really understood her much, but he thought he understood that smile. It's the same expression he wore when someone told him Ginny was amazing. It meant, _Oh, you have no idea_.

"You know," Harry continued, "he tried to help me during the Tournament. He told me about the Golden Egg. I wouldn't have been able to solve that without his help."

"I know," said Cho. "I was there when you told him, remember?"

"Oh, yeah."

Harry had actually forgotten that she'd been there until now. He remembered how much he'd liked Cho then, how jealous he was of Cedric, how absolutely useless and incompetent he felt when comparing himself to the other boy. Harry almost said it out loud, but did not really feel comfortable sharing it with Cho.

"He was the best boy I'd ever known," said Cho. "I think the Hat put him in Hufflepuff because all the houses wanted him. So they gave him to Hufflepuff to be fair. I don't know if-"

Harry looked at her, secretly hoping she wouldn't start crying again, then feeling guilty about his less than helpful thought. But Cho wasn't crying. Harry felt a little relieved. He'd probably be better at dealing with crying girls now than he'd been at fifteen, but that didn't mean he wanted to do so.

Compelled by some unknown force, Harry looked around across the grounds again, just in time to see Ginny step out of the castle and walk towards him. He smiled at her, though she couldn't really see his expression from the distance.

Harry made to walk towards her, but Cho spoke up.

"No, stay," she said to him.

He looked at Cho quizzically. "Erm…"

"I mean," she said quickly, "_I_ should go. I was headed out anyway. I only wanted to - well, it's not important. But I do need to go. Well, see you at that DA party Neville's planning, then?"

"If it ever happens," said Harry. Many DA members had wanted to help with the planning, making the whole effort take a whole lot longer than it should have.

Cho grinned at that. "Well, bye," she said.

"Bye," Harry echoed.

He turned to Ginny, who was closing the distance between them. She gave Cho a smile that was more polite than friendly as their paths crossed.

"Hey," Harry greeted softly as Ginny came to stand in front of the shrine beside him.

Ginny smiled up at him before turning her attention to the floating image above the black stone. It had briefly turned to Colin, then slowly changed again until the image became that of Fred smiling at them.

Ginny's smile turned into a grimace of dismay. "This is both a terrible and amazing idea," she said.

Harry understood that well. Being reminded of those they've recently lost is quite depressing, but at the same time, it was good seeing those smiling faces again. He knew - he _hoped_ - that with time, Ginny would be able to see Fred's face without hurting too deeply.

Harry gazed at Ginny as she turned away from her brother's image and looked across the grounds at Cho. She bit her lip, studying the other girl. Her face scrunched into a frown of contemplation. A moment later, she sighed and turned back to the shrine.

"It's so terrible to-" she began, but stopped with another sigh.

Harry understood her well. He grabbed her hand and slowly laced it with his. She looked up at him with a small smile. He brought her hand to his lips and stared back at her beautiful brown eyes.

In that moment without words, they both knew what was being said between them. In the bright new world beginning to break free from the darkness of Voldemort's reign, they were infinitely glad and grateful - to the gods, to fate or luck, to whatever it was that brought them to that moment - that they still had each other.


End file.
